Education minister hypocritically lauds military service he avoided using junta legislation

Kostas Gavroglou has shown that he does not understand the Greeks' respect for the flag because he has never saluted or swore to the Greek flag having never served his military obligations. As newspaper "Thema" revealed, the Education Minister, who was at the center of criticisism for his decision to abolish excellence as a criterion for the selection of the standard bearer in elementary schools, avoided his military service when he took Greek citizenship and using a legal loophole bought it out in 1971 paying just 3,200 drachmas!

Although a child of the Greek Diaspora that traditionally nurtures its children with respect towards the symbols of its homeland, Kostas Gavroglou, when he was 24 years old and called to serve in the Greek Army for a term of only eight months, preferred to buy it out in order to continue his studies abroad, without dedicating even this small part of his life to meet a basic obligation towards the country that accepted him and gave him citizenship.

It is likely that he can explain the policy he has pursued since November, when he took over the government portfolio, by successively removing some of the moral pillars that form the character of the Greeks in the first steps of their education, such as raising the Greek flag in the Primary schools, the choice of the flag bearers on the basis of educationalexcellence, but also social conduct, which, according to the Minister of Education, no longer needs to be impecable...

Kostas Gavroglou was born on July 30, 1947 in Constantinople, to wealthy parents and studied at the best universities in Britain and America. As soon as he finished school, he immediately left for Lancaster University to study Physics. There he pursued a brilliant academic career in large and well-known universities, which ended in 2014, when he left the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens at the age of 67.

In his brilliant career, however, there will always be a small stigma. While the Greek state honored him by giving him Greek citizenship at the age of 22, he avoided dedicating a period of eight months to serve his homeland and the Greek flag, against whom he now acts. Kostas Gavroglou was a sophomore student at Lancaster University when, at the age of 22, his request for Greek citizenship was accepted, which he received on 30 June 1969 (pursuant to Articles 6, 7 and 35 of the Code of Greek Citizenship, as his CV mentions). Under the law in force at the time, student Kostas Gavroglou was automatically given "8 months military service", while during the dictatorship when he received Greek nationality the military service for Greeks reached 30 months.

He is asked for deferment of military service and it was approved until 1973. On September 10, 1970, student Gavroglou transferred to the Department of Natural Sciences of the NY State University. However, in 1970 the dictatorship established Legislative Decree 720/1970 authorizing a payment instead of service in the military for certain categories of foreign residents or Greeks who stay abroad for most of the year. In particular, Article 87 of the Decree no. 720/1970 said:
'Persons who are permanently residents abroad under the conditions set out in Article 86 (2) (who are permanently or frequently abroad) and applicants in Greece, from countries designated by the Minister of National Defense, may, pay off the obligation for service in the armed forces (service, training or other activities) and any additional military service provided they are lawfully outside the ranks of the army. "

Based on these provisions, after graduating from the Imperial University of London in September 1970, Gavroglou, in order to complete his PhD, took advantage of the new legislation to rid himself of the obligation for military service.